A Glimpse of Things to Be
by Skyrimosity
Summary: Given the option of seeing a small part of their future, Naruto and friends are unable to resist the temptation. But what exactly will they see when they view things that they were never meant to see? And will they want to change that which is shown? (Scenes consisting either of canon possibilities or plausible alternatives to canon happenings [canon pairings])
1. Chapter 1

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

This story inspired by Into the Future by ichilover3.

None of them knew exactly why they were gathered together in Naruto's living room, at the top of some abandoned apartment building. Well, almost none of them knew; the only person who actually knew was Neji Hyuuga, surprisingly enough the one who called them here. Neji asking all of them to meet at Naruto's place was the main reason that all of them showed up; it was very strange and seemingly out of character. It had to be for some important reason.

Naruto let the last guest into the room, all the others having been chatting away and occupying all the scarce furniture in his apartment. Naruto, Neji, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Rock Lee, Tenten, Sai, and even Temari. They were all deeply curious as to why someone like Neji would have asked them to be together.

"So, why exactly are we at Naruto's anyway? I didn't even know where he lived before today." Ino asked, a few people also curious but not bold enough to have asked.

"Yeah, but at least it's a bit cleaner than I imagined." Tenten said, looking around. It's not that she was some sort of high maintenance woman; she was a kunoichi and had no problem sleeping in the dirt whenever required. She just did not really like sitting around all kinds of trash when she was in a building.

Neji spoke up for the first time, having ignored all the previous questions asking what the gathering was all about. "Naruto's house is the only place where we do not risk interruption."

Temari spoke up, feeling a little bit out of place right now. "Whatever, will you just tell us what's going on already?"

Sai broke his silence, having not said a word the whole time. "Interesting you should ask. I wonder why a sand ninja would be here. Spying, perhaps?"

Shikamaru decided to interject before Temari did something violent. "She was with me when Neji invited me; didn't feel like stopping her."

Hinata decided to try to keep everything calm. "I'm sure Neji has a good reason for this. Thank you for hosting us, Naruto."

"Oh sure, you would thank Naruto wouldn't you Hinata?" Kiba teased, causing the woman to blush slightly. It was embarrassing really; blushing even when Kiba didn't really imply anything.

"No problem Hinata. Neji didn't tell me what this was about either but I realized I'd never hosted for any of you before. So anyway, Neji, we're all here. You gonna explain?"

The Hyuuga cleared his throat a bit, and everybody sat in anticipation. "I called us all here to talk about the future."

"Is that it?"

"Really?"

"Ugh, came for nothing."

"Do I need to beat the fate out of you again?"

"Please, allow me to explain." The others calmed down a bit, as Neji kept talking. "On my last team mission, we came across an elderly woman in a rundown hut at the edge of a village. While my teammates continued on, I felt drawn into it. Let me continue" he said, knowing ahead of time that everyone was getting ready to erupt at him calling him crazy. "When I approached the woman, she told me that she had an item I would be interested in. When I asked about it, she explained that it was a device that could see into a random interval at some point in the future.

Naturally I thought she was just a crazy old woman. I asked her for a demonstration, but she said that it was a one-time use per person and she had already used hers. Thinking it could be a trap, I dragged a local into the shack. I was surprised when he touched his hand to a sphere of some sort and a projection appeared above it, showing an aged person that was obviously him surrounded by family, in tears. It went on for a few minutes, everyone saying their final words. The man, who was shocked by this all, ran out of the shack cursing and claiming it was all lies. And now I have it with me."

Neji reached into his pack and pulled out a glass sphere with a stand. Moments later, everyone recovered enough from his story to start putting things together.

"So you think this thing can actually show you the future?" Sakura asked, somewhat curious as to what her life could possibly hold for her.

"That is what you were doing on that mission?" Tenten asked, to which Neji nodded. It was with a slight reluctance that she realized she was very curious what could possibly be in store for her. But she had some hesitation; what if it was bad? Unfulfilling? Would she be able to change it?"

"I don't think this is a good idea guys. This can only end badly." Shikamaru took it upon himself to try to warn his friends, but he had a feeling that they weren't going to listen to him. Everyone was always so curious, getting involved in things they didn't need to. Didn't they know curiosity killed the cat?

"Don't be such a spoil sport Shikamaru. What's the worst that could happen? If we don't like what gets shown to us we can just change it." Ino said, to which a few people agreed while others questioned it.

"That is not how the future works. We may try to change it but those decisions will find some way to work toward the same destination."

"Neji, you're not starting to talk about that fate nonsense again are you? I told you, we make our own fate."

"No Naruto, this is different. I used to think it was my fate to be a slave to the Hyuuga main family, but that perception was caused by me. The future, however, if it is accurate, is taking into account everything about our personalities and how we will react to any given situation, including viewing it now."

"I still say it can be changed, but enough of all this. Let's get started! I'm going first." Naruto was excited to get a glimpse of what his life could be like. If it was a good glimpse, he'd just keep down his current path. If it was bad, he would just change it. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Shino broke his silence, getting everyone to look at him. "Wait, Naruto. If this is a serious proposition, then the only way to assure there are no hurt feelings from whatever is shown is to promise that we will all go."

Everyone agreed, and Naruto smiled as he placed his hand on the ball. "Alright, show me what ya got. I'm ready for it, believe it!"

* * *

A/N: Reading through ichilover3's _Into the Future_ recently, I got the idea to do my own take on a similar concept. If I had to describe what makes my story different, I would say that my story offers a brief look into plausible scenarios from canon that maybe we would have liked to see but never got the chance to or plausible alternatives to canon whereas that story tried (and succeeded) at offering a humorous alternate reality. This story is going to be rather short, with most chapters being just slightly over 1k words (but no chapters being below).

This is a side-fic that I'm mostly writing for fun. My other fic is still the main one I'm working on (as well as one other that is as of yet unpublished) but I've run into a bit of a road block and I've found this one relatively easy to write. But maybe that means the quality is a bit low; either way, I hope you'll give it a chance. Please feel free to favorite, follow, review, continue reading, or just continue on with your life. Either way, if you made it this far, thanks for reading.


	2. Naruto

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Chapter 2 – Naruto

Naruto smiled as he placed his hand on the ball. "Alright, show me what ya got. I'm ready for it, believe it!"

Everyone found themselves on the edge of their seats as they waited for something to happen. After a few seconds wherein nothing happened, a few people started to chuckle as if to laugh at how silly this whole idea was. As if the idea of seeing into the future was completely insane and they should all be admitted into the hospital for buying into it for even a second. Then a projection appeared above the ball, and the room was dead silent as they glanced at it.

 _The image showed a large room, with a large pentagonal table in the middle. There were five chairs, occupied by five people. These people had a bodyguard on each side of them. The picture focused on who was talking, in this case an older man with the Tsuchikage's hat in front of him, slightly to the side. A Five Kage Summit was being shown._

" _All I'm saying is that the current conditions of the treaty are too harsh and are negatively affecting the economy of Iwagakure. We used to hire Akatsuki to help keep up with the quantity of missions but now there are so many grey areas in terms of mission assignment that we're starting to have issues keeping our shinobi busy. And an idle shinobi is a very dangerous internal threat. With the conditions of the treaty having been a temporary solution, I think it better if we do not renew it."_

None of them knew what to think about the image they were being shown. No one in the room was well-versed in the art of politics and it surprised them what they were seeing. Everyone was curious as to what Naruto's role was in this situation, except for Naruto who found himself staring at the projection with such wide-eyed wonder that someone could have stabbed him in the chest and he would not have noticed. He was certain that he knew.

" _Of course." The image shifted to a beautiful red-headed woman with the Mizukage's hat set on the table in front of her. "The treaty really seems quite superfluous; as long as cooler minds prevail, its terms are pointless and yet it hurts us all in some way. I'm not sure I like for the fortunes of all of Mizu to be bound to the fortunes and politics of Iwa, simply as an example."_

" _Hmph" it shifted to a heavily muscled individual with the Raikage's hat in front of him. "I don't suppose I should be surprised that the ol' fence-sitter wants out of a treaty binding him to action, but I did not expect this from you Lady Mizukage. Let it be known that if Iwa and Mizu do not wish to abide by the terms of the treaty then I will withdraw all my support from it. Kumo got along just fine before it and with those Akatsuki scum dead I am sure we will again."_

" _All of you are missing the point." The image shifted to a short-haired blonde with piercing blue eyes, with three distinctive whisker-like birthmarks. His face was the picture of calm absoluteness, the confidence practically irradiating from him. The Hokage's hat was set in front of him._

The room was silent. A few of them had guessed from what they were initially shown that maybe it was as simple as it seemed, but plenty of others thought that Naruto was perhaps a bodyguard or had even snuck into the meeting room. Or that the sphere was not functioning at all, among the more doubtful among them. Even those that believed Naruto would become Hokage were shocked by the man shown; seemingly so different than the shinobi they were used to. It hardly seemed like Konoha's number one knucklehead ninja was the one before them.

Naruto was staring at himself, a small part of him in disbelief. He always knew he would be Hokage, no matter what everyone else thought about his dream. Seeing it for himself, however, was almost unbelievable. It was surreal. He didn't even have the presence of mind to jump and celebrate, too impressed by the way he looked in those Kage robes with that haircut. He was smiling, and everyone could see it.

" _There will always be another threat around the corner. Another Akatsuki, deviously put together with the goal of destroying our way of life. Another war orphan like Pain, embittered by the losses he has suffered and eager to take it out on the rest of the world. S-ranked criminals who become power-hungry. The only thing that we can do to prevent it from becoming an unstoppable threat is to stick together. I do not think that it is doubted that Madara would have defeated us handily were it not for our combined forces._

 _This is why the Shinobi Union must stand. Peace is not meant to be the exception; it is meant to be the rule. And it is our duty as Kage to enforce rule of law. The only possible way to prevent future wars is to commit wholeheartedly to the treaty, to be willing to abide by it. It can be amended; such provisions were included. It is not meant to be a temporary document, despite your claim Lord Tsuchikage. And there is no way to ensure that cooler minds shall prevent war, Lady Mizukage. One day, there will be a land dispute. A mission dispute. Economic dispute. Accidental mission-related casualties. Border tension. Tension over influence in a smaller nation. Without an official method of resolving such disputes, I would not call it hotheaded to fight over such things. I would call it the duty of the Kage, standing up for their village and ensuring it does not diminish._

 _Our histories are not wrong, filled with actions of foolish individuals that we are surely never to emulate. I would say almost all of our respective former Kages were capable individuals whom looked out for their villages. Yet, war happened anyway. We cannot simply assume that we are past all of that; we need to ensure it. This is it; this is our chance. Possibly the greatest chance history has offered up to this point._

The expression shifted, a hint of anger showing on the face as his voice raised. It was ridiculous that the figure was in the future and being viewed as a projection yet inspiring fear and goosebumps among all the viewers. To them, it was clear: Naruto was not just attending the Five Kage summit, he was owning it. In a room with the most powerful people on the planet, he spoke with total confidence and was completely unafraid. None of them knew exactly what was going on, but could pick up on the hints that Akatsuki had been defeated by some sort of alliance.

" _Or maybe I'm wrong. None of you look like you're ready to commit to this treaty. I don't even know what the point of this whole meeting was. The treaty will expire naturally in six months and we'll be back to the way things were before. Each nation simply waiting for another war. It makes me wonder if there was any point to fighting Madara at all; think of all the lives that could have been saved if we'd only surrendered to him._

 _We're all making concessions, we're all making sacrifices. The treaty affects us all relatively evenly. And if it doesn't, we can fix it. We are not just a bunch of politicians meant to talk about things and never get it done. We are the Five Kage! The most powerful villages in the Elemental Nations have chosen us to have the power to look over them, let's do our part and try to make sure that those villages are not going to get threatened the next time some border village sends a mission to Suna over Iwa or some megalomaniac tries to take over the world._

 _Now, if you all are ready to take things seriously, I think we can have a very productive discussion. And if not, I have a wife at home who is eight months pregnant, and I'm sure she would appreciate me being home instead of out gossiping."_

Everyone broke out of their daze, all staring at Naruto who was blushing rather severely at the mention of his having a wife. Hinata didn't know if she should be happy that Naruto was married, possibly to her, or sad that it meant it could not be her and then she'd be out of the picture forever. The orb, however, was still projecting so everyone held their silence for the moment.

" _I'd like to request a quick individual recess to allow us all to process this." said the Kazekage, his ever-stoic expression not wavering even in the midst of Naruto's appeals. Everyone recognized this as Gaara. There was a brief round of nodding as everyone left the room, the image focusing on Naruto as he put his hat on and retired to a room, instructing one guard to stand outside as he went in with the other._

 _When they were inside the room, the other guard took off his ANBU-style mask, revealing a face that shocked all of them. The face of Sasuke Uchiha. "Remember when I tried to kill all of them?" he said, as Naruto took a seat on a bed. "I could try again; pretty sure I could do it this time." His voice was completely flat and cold, giving no indication of being anything other than serious._

 _Naruto laughed, seemingly glad to have been given some reprieve from politics. Everyone knew that Sasuke was never much for humor so was somewhat surprised by this behavior. "Yeah, maybe. But you'd have to leave Gaara alone. And it'd be messy. And I'd have to deal with the aftermath. Best just to hope they're all sensible enough to listen to me I guess."_

" _Keep it as a Plan B." Naruto smiled, and the projection ended._

"I knew from the day you defeated me you would become Hokage." Neji was the first one to talk, everyone else trying to process the strangeness of everything they had seen.

"I… I knew it too. It's just… seeing it for myself. Man, this thing better not be lying to me. And Sasuke as a guard. I just wish I knew how it all happened."

"And a lovely, pregnant wife as well. Any ideas on who the lady could be?" Ino said, knowing full well that Naruto would have no idea. She did it mainly to tease Hinata a bit. Naruto didn't respond, instead blushing again at the thought.

"Let's not worry about that poor girl; let's just worry about Naruto being in charge of us all in the future." Kiba said, smirking a bit and getting a few head nods.

"Now now Kiba, I am sure that Naruto will make a perfectly capable leader." Sakura said, a bit too astonished by the sight of Sasuke to even worry about teasing her friend. If Sasuke was Naruto's guard, then that meant he'd be back in Konoha at some point.

Temari smirked before she talked. "Yeah, did you see the way he was talking to those Kage? It was kinda hot." She saw Shikamaru next to her squirm out the corner of his eye and chuckled slightly.

"I can no longer contain my excitement! Seeing such a youthful man as Naruto as Hokage has sparked my flame! Allow me to go next!" Lee said, and nobody in the room was brave enough to try to stop him.

* * *

A/N: The first projection of the future. I hope you all enjoyed it. Personally, I absolutely love the idea of Hokage Naruto and I wanted to paint what I saw as a realistic example of him with his power trying to achieve the prophecy (in canon, it just seems like he's handed over a perfect world after all his fighting and then just has to defend it). My goal is to show events that could have happened either within the canon or in a very plausible alternative to canon (basically, do you feel like this outcome could have happened? If yes, that fits my goal).

I decided to update this story rather quickly so that there would actually be a chapter with the future projections as promised in Chapter 1. I cannot promise that I will update daily and I am trying to think of a schedule at the moment. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to ignore, follow, favorite, review, or continuing to read. Once again, thank you sincerely for reading.


	3. Rock Lee

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Chapter 3 – Rock Lee

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Allow me to go next!" Lee said, and nobody in the room was brave enough to try to stop him.

Naruto finally took his hand off of the sphere, scooting far back as he tried to process everything he had seen. He was the only one sitting on the floor, in his own apartment, but he was thinking about much more important things than that. Lee put his hand on it, and again, it took a couple of seconds for a projection to pop up.

 _Lee and Tenten sat in two chairs outside of a hospital surgery room, worry clearly on both of their faces. Lee's legs were moving at a mile-a-minute, while Tenten pre-occupied herself with a book of some sort. She closed it abruptly._

" _Don't worry about it Lee; we both know what he's like. He'll be fine. Lady Tsunade said she'd let us visit as soon as she finishes the check-up so just relax."_

" _I am sorry Tenten; I have tried but my youth will just not contain itself. I have not seen him since the war."_

" _I understand Lee, but just try to understand that he'll be limited. At least for a while. And be happy that he's still with us." Tenten was visibly saddened and even Lee was slightly less upbeat. The door opened, and the two of them immediately stood, the quickness with which Tenten stood betraying her calm portrayal. Out walked Lady Tsunade._

" _He's stable and recovering at a steady rate. You can visit him but please just try to keep him as calm as you can. Excitement will hurt him, whether he shows it or not." She walked away, leaving Lee and Tenten to visit whomever was in the room._

"Who is it!" Tenten yelled, the suspense getting to her. It was at that moment she realized how much this future-viewing thing was already getting to her. It all seemed so real, like it was happening to her right now. She had become scared.

 _They walked into the room, seeing a man covered in bandages from head-to-toe in a hospital bed. Lee and Tenten both just stood there, having a hard time believing it. None of the viewers had any idea who it could be because of all the bandaging. After a moment, Tenten moved forward._

" _Hello Gai-sensei, how are you?"_

"GAI-SENSEI, WHAT HAS HAPPENED!" Lee yelled, completely hysterical and practically in tears.

"It seems like your present self should have listened to future Tenten" Sai said, as usual emotionless.

Sakura took it upon herself to try to calm down the taijutsu expert. "Look, Lee, just see how it all plays out, alright? It hasn't actually happened so there's really nothing to worry about."

" _Hello, my youthful students. I would turn my head to gaze upon you this fine morning, but alas, I cannot. Please stand in front of me so that I may see you." The voice was strong, betraying his appearance. They walked in front of the man, just staring at him. It was obvious that the man was burned severely from what little of his face was left uncovered._

" _Gai-sensei… it is good to see you again." Lee said, visibly shaken by the state of his sensei, mentor, and father figure._

" _I knew you two would be my first visitors. It gives me great joy to see you again. Please, do not be afraid to speak to me in my current state. Not even these injuries will overcome my youth." He grimaced in pain, clearly doing his best to appear to be the always strong, confident sensei._

" _It is so hard to see you this way! I can barely stand it!" Tenten looked across at her teammate, despite everything still surprised by his outburst. It seemed that Lee was trying to blast his way through the awkwardness._

" _Do not be sad, my young student. You should rejoice! I am the first man ever to open all of the gates and live! They shall sing of my youth from the mountains of Iwa to the islands of Mizu!" His enthusiasm was curbed only by the pain he was obviously suffering, but his words did help to calm Lee down a little._

" _But sensei, will you ever be back to your old self?" Tenten asked. She was obviously dealing with all of it better than Lee, yet was herself clearly distraught about her long-time sensei's health._

" _Hah, fear not my stunning weapons mistress! Lady Tsunade assures me I will be wheelchair bound within a month. It shall be only a matter of time after that!"_

" _A wheelchair? In a month? Oh sensei, that cannot be true! Your recovery is simply too long!"_

" _We must remember, Lee, that I am myself fortunate. I knew that I was sacrificing my life when I opened the last gate. Were it not for Naruto I would be dead. Now, it is like every day is a gift given unto me so that I may contribute my youth to the world! Surely I am a blessed man."_

" _You must forgive me sensei! I let my flame dim and failed to understand. For that, I shall do ten-thousand push-ups during my next warm-up!"_

" _That's the spirit Lee! Fear not, I shall be joining you once again soon enough!" He put on one of his famous glistening smiles, as did Lee, while Tenten just stood there shaking her head but smiling._ _The projection ended._

Everybody heard the sound of a small crash, and looked over to see Naruto tackled by Rock Lee. "Oh thank you so much Naruto! I do not how you could have done it, but for saving Gai-sensei I shall forever be in your debt!"

"What the… Lee! Get off of me! I don't even know medical jutsu. And that hasn't even happened yet!" Naruto noticed how he no longer questioned whether it would happen or not, and felt a little embarrassed that he was being a bit selfish. Obviously if the visions shown to them were truthful then he would be Hokage, but Gai-sensei would be seriously injured.

"That was a lot shorter than Naruto's" Ino said, to which a few people nodded their heads.

"Why would you not invite me to see Gai-sensei in such a state?" Neji asked, looking straight at Tenten and seeming a little hurt.

"Wait, what? Neji, you cannot be serious. That hasn't even happened yet! Besides, it was after some war so I'm sure you were just on clan duty or something."

"That was a most unyouthful projection, but I know now that I shall have to train even harder if there is an enemy capable of reducing Gai-sensei to such a state."

"That's great, Lee" Naruto said. "Now would you please get off of me!" Lee was still attached to Naruto, wrapping him in a hug. It took a second for Lee to notice what the blonde was talking about.

"My apologies Naruto, I suppose I let my flames of youth fan in the wrong direction for a moment." Naruto was not even going to bother trying to decipher whatever that meant.

"Now look, I know that this viewing was a little dark, but we all agreed to do it and I'm feeling curious. I want next." said Temari.

A/N: The third chapter is now posted! I hope everyone enjoyed this one. I don't really have much to say about this one (and I guess ideally I should let the chapter do all the talking for me). That said, a lot of these chapters are going to be my first time uploading involving a lot of these characters so I'm really hoping to get the characterization down. Let me know what you think.

As always, feel free to ignore, follow, favorite, review, or continue reading. Thank you for reading.


	4. Temari

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Chapter 4 – Temari

"I want next" said Temari, and a few people just looked at her wondering if she could possibly be serious about wanting to go after seeing just one of the possibly infinite negative scenarios.

"Maybe we should just stop" said Shikamaru, and Temari simply rolled her eyes.

"Hah, trying to stop her from seeing your wedding day heh?"

"Shut up Kiba." The shadow-nin was a little bit annoyed at his friend.

"Or wedding night?"

"Shut up Kiba!" This time it was Temari who was annoyed at the dog-nin. "I am not going to let any of you boring stiffs ruin my wonderful future. Now, let's get this thing started."

Shikamaru just sighed while Kiba grinned, happy at getting under their skins. Temari put her hand on the sphere and, after a moment, it began the projection.

" _Hello Ino" Temari said, with a sickeningly sweet grin. She appeared to be a few years older than the person watching this all unfold. "Would you happen to know where Shikamaru is?"_

" _No, haven't seen him today. Why?"_

" _I'm going to kill him."_

" _Ah, well, if he knows you're going to kill him, probably hiding at our old training grounds. If he doesn't know, he's probably at some restaurant with Chouji."_

" _Thanks Ino, you're such a dear."_

"Women are scary." Naruto said, receiving a few nods from most of the surrounding guys. And a few of the girls.

 _Temari proceeded to run off in a very deliberate direction, eventually arriving at a barbecue restaurant conveniently located almost perfectly in the middle of the Nara and Akimichi clan compounds. She walked through the doors, death written in the expression on her face. Surely enough, she saw Shikamaru and Chouji sitting at a table eating and made her way over there._

" _Hello Chouji, mind if I steal Shikamaru away for a moment?" she sounded so sweet that both future and present Shikamarus shivered involuntarily._

" _Go ahead." Shikamaru gave Chouji a look cursing him for his betrayal, but the man was already back to eating without a care in the world. Temari grabbed him by the arm and dragged him outside, quickly finding a nice and quiet alley for them._

Shikamaru glared at Chouji, who simply continued eating a bag of chips and shrugged his shoulders.

" _Now, before you begin, I can guess what this is all about from how angry you are. And I just want to say that we both know it is both of our faults."_

Temari's eyes lit up in sudden understanding, and she quickly took her hand off the sphere expecting it to stop. To her surprise, however, it didn't. "How do you stop this thing?" she said, frantically looking around at everyone in the group but everyone just looking at her in confusion. "Come on, someone has to know!"

" _Of course, leave it to Shikamaru to try to find some way to blame it on the lady. Can't bother to take all the responsibility himself. Might have to not be lazy."_

Shikamaru spoke up "Neji, is there a way to stop this before it reaches the end?"

"Hmmm… I do not know. The old woman never demonstrated such a thing and it had not occurred to me before." Shikamaru squirmed in his seat, hoping that maybe this was going in a different direction than it was obviously going.

" _Look, that's not what I'm trying to say. I'm just saying that you were pretty into it yourself."_

" _Oh sure, try to make me out to be the bad guy here. Well guess what you bastard! I did the test and I'm pregnant! And don't even start trying to say that those tests have a bunch of false-positives or whatever because I know I'm pregnant!"_

Nobody in the room had ever seen Temari blush before, but it was exactly as bright a shade of red as they would imagine on someone so pale. Shikamaru was also sporting a quite noticeable blush, even as he attempted to cough into his shirt sleeve in some sort of desperate attempt to avoid the embarrassment.

"Wow, I never imagined it'd be so good!" Kiba yelled out, chuckling quite heartily. He had figured that something was going on between Shikamaru and Temari, and he loved to tease them about it, but this was just too perfect.

" _Okay, okay, I'm not trying to say any of that. I'm just saying that we should stay calm about all this."_

" _Calm? CALM?! Right now I'm a knocked-up, unmarried foreign kunoichi! I go back to Suna next week! What am I going to tell Gaara! Or Kankuro!"_

" _Now look, I can't say I know exactly what to do. But I do know how to solve at least one of your problems."_

" _Shikamaru, if you so much as suggest getting rid of this baby I will kill you where you stand." The Nara reached into his pocket, grumbling._

" _I wanted to find some better way to do this, but I guess this will have to do. Troublesome woman." He opened a box with a wedding ring inside of it, to the surprise of Temari and all of the viewers. "So… marry me?"_

" _You stupid, lazy, no-good bastard! This is not the way that you propose to a woman! I am the daughter of the Yondaime Kazekage, sister of the Godaime Kazekage! I deserve better than some pregnant back-alley proposal."_

" _Is that a yes or a no?"_

 _It seemed that something about what Shikamaru said actually managed to calm her down a bit. "You're lucky to even have a woman like me in your life. You probably got me pregnant just so I'd have to say yes. But what about..."_

" _Try not to worry about it" Shikamaru said, uncharacteristically interrupting her. "We'll talk to Naruto and get him to go to Suna with us. We'll break the news to Gaara, then Naruto will help us to get all the political nonsense out of the way. Plus, we both know how Gaara reacts to Naruto; it's bound to help us. After that, we will come back to Konoha and we can announce it anyway that you like. Then you'll plan the ceremony, if you want. Sure my mom would do it otherwise."_

" _Sometimes I hate you so much." she said, smiling for the first time in the whole encounter. She reached out and grabbed his hand. "Mind if I join you for lunch, hubby?"_

" _I hope you don't plan on sticking with that name" he said with a sigh. They walked back into the restaurant, hand-in-hand._

" _So, what was that all about?" Chouji asked them as they sat down._

" _Troublesome woman being troublesome." Temari smacked him over the head as the projection ended._

"I tried to say that we shouldn't do this" Shikamaru said, his blush still visual on his face.

"Oh what's your problem Shikamaru? Didn't you see the end? You're a romantic at heart." Ino said, smiling. She was always a sucker for a love story with a happy ending. Reading stories like that were her biggest non-job related hobby, aside from tending to flowers. A true guilty pleasure.

"That was such a freaky relationship" Kiba said, causing both Temari and Shikamaru to recover from their embarrassment just enough to scowl at him together.

"This one was really boring." Sai said, causing Ino to punch him.

"You idiot, you don't even know how to smile, you know nothing of romance."

"I kinda thought they've been spending a bit more time together than necessary, just didn't want to say anything." Tenten offered with a smirk.

"Umm… I'd like to go next, if that's okay" Hinata said, causing everyone to look at her. Nervously, she approached the sphere, practically chanting prayers in her head.

* * *

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed this; I'm not entirely sure if there's a canonical marriage proposal between Shikamaru and Temari (I mostly ignore the minor details of canon following the Pein attack) but I think that this seems like a plausible look into the relationship between the two. Not necessarily entirely functional, with some arguments, but in the end the two of them work it out and get along fine. Anyway, I hope once again that this provides a realistic look into the world of canon.

Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or simply continue reading. As always, thank you for reading.


	5. Hinata

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Chapter 5 – Hinata

"Umm… I'd like to go next, if that's okay" Hinata said, causing everyone to look at her. Nervously, she approached the sphere, practically chanting prayers in her head. There was something about seeing Temari and Shikamaru together that made her want to see if it would show her and Naruto. It was killing her, not knowing. She placed a hand on the sphere, desperately awaiting the projection.

" _Look, Father, I don't really have the time for this. I am already late. May I be excused?" A woman easily identified as Hinata was talking to a singular man in a room._

" _It is not my aim to delay you. I just wanted to remind you that a clan heiress has many responsibilities, and one of them involves marriage. I believe you know what I am speaking of, correct?"_

" _Yes, and I am fully understanding of all our clan laws. I will not change myself or my life to appease this clan any longer; Hanabi shall make an excellent clan leader." Hinata turned around to leave, but was stopped by her father placing a hand on her shoulder._

" _You have changed since this relationship started." He smiled, surprising both future and present Hinatas. "I am proud of you. Please, do not let me hold you up any further." There was an extremely brief hug before Hinata left the building, walking at a quick pace._

"I am proud of you Lady Hinata" Neji said, with a smile. Hinata simply felt awkward though, being congratulated for something that had not actually happened.

"Yeah, you go Hinata. 'Bout time you stood up to him anyway." Kiba said. As Hinata's teammate he had been around some of the times when Hinata was at her worst from her father's degrading behavior. It seemed like, in the future, she had finally done something to appease him.

 _She walked outside the Hyuuga compound gate, looking around for a brief moment but not seeing anything. Suddenly she felt an arm wrap around her waist and she giggled slightly._

" _Guess who?" An all too familiar voice said. Hinata turned around and came face to face with a blonde-haired man with piercing blue eyes that everyone recognized as Naruto. He was smiling brightly at Hinata and holding what appeared to be a picnic basket._

" _Sorry I'm late. Got held up a bit by Father."_

" _Hmmm… is that so?" Naruto's free hand found its way onto Hinata's cheek, caressing it slowly. Hinata began to blush a bit, but continued to look into his eyes._

" _He said he was proud of me."_

" _Good. Guess he finally joined the club." Naruto leaned in closer, kissing Hinata softly on the lips. Hinata had no trouble returning the gentle embrace, but it lasted only a brief time before Naruto pulled away with a smile._

The only viewers particularly surprised by the scene shown to them were, ironically enough, Hinata and Naruto themselves. Both of them were blushing profusely and avoiding eye contact with anyone out of embarrassment. While Hinata knew that her and Naruto were meant to be together, it was still somewhat shocking to see them interacting like that. And embarrassing for all her friends to see. Even in the scene Naruto was kissing her right in front of the Hyuuga compound, where people who were not even visible could see them easily!

"Awww, you two are so cute! Oh my goodness!" Sakura said, enjoying the scene in front of them. It was so adorable watching the two of them act like they did in the projection; she'd look forward to it in the future.

"Sure is more romantic than Shikamaru" Temari said, staring at her apparent future husband who simply sighed in exasperation.

"I sure hope I can find a guy that sweet" Ino said, thinking in her mind of the men in the romantic stories she had read and hoping that she could find someone like them eventually.

" _I packed us a small picnic today._ _We'll be eating_ _at_ _my favorite_ _spot_ _in the whole village._ _Ready to go?" Naruto moved the basket to his left hand and re-wrapped his right arm around Hinata, bringing her in close to him. Hinata simply nodded and they began walking down the street, Naruto forcing a quick pace._

" _How is your training going?" Hinata asked, breaking the silence that had briefly developed between them._

" _It's going great. I get stronger and smarter everyday. Learning all these clan laws and village laws is a bit of a pain but I'll manage. That hat will be mine in just a few short years, I know it." Hinata smiled brightly at him, and nuzzled her head against his shoulder as they continued walking._

" _You're right._ _I can't wait to see it on you." They walked for another thirty seconds before Naruto spoke again._

" _Do you mind holding the basket?" He looked at Hinata with an all-too familiar mischievous glint in his eyes, but Hinata proceeded to take the basket anyway. Immediately, she found herself lifted off of the ground and in Naruto's arms._

" _Naruto! What are you doing?" she said, somewhat startled. The blonde simply smiled at her._

" _We're going too slow Hinata! This is the best way to speed up while making sure the basket is safe!" It was obvious to everyone that they both could have simply r_ _u_ _n together, but Hinata was too taken aback by being carried bridal-style to protest further. Naruto took off running,_ _smiling for all the world to see with Hinata using one-hand to hold on while keep_ _ing_ _the basket held onto her stomach._

 _T_ _he image showed nothing but the quick passing of rooftops with Naruto laughing and Hinata holding on for dear life for a solid minute or so. Then Naruto stopped and, after a second's hesitation, the frightened Hyuuga finally got her feet back on the ground._

" _You're so beautiful when you're surprised." Naruto stated, as if it were the simplest of facts in the world._

" _And you're always surprising. Where are we, anyway?"_ _Instead of answering, Naruto took a hold of her hand_ _and made them walk forward a few steps. After about five or six steps, she started to see a magnificent view of the entire village. The sun was starting to set, casting an orange glow over most of the scenery. She stood there stunned while Naruto smiled at her._

" _The best_ _view_ _in the entire village." He took another step forward before sitting down and motioning for Hinata to join him._ _After a few more moments, she sat down beside him. They still had a great view of the village._

" _We're on the monument?"_

" _Yep. The Yondaime's head, to be exact. It's just not the same with the others." Naruto wrapped an arm around Hinata, who rested her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence for a moment,_ _enjoying the sunset with one another._

" _I love you" Naruto said,_ _making Hinata swiftly lift her head to look at him. He was still looking out over the village, a serene look on his face._

" _N-Naruto… I-I…_ _ummm" Hinata was stumbling over her words, obviously surprised by the declaration."_ _D-don't say that unless you mean it..."_

" _Of course I mean it!_ _I guess I've_ _known for a while, ya know? I remember one day, a few years ago, something made me wonder: Out of every girl I've ever met, who would I want to_ _marry_ _? And I was thinking for a bit, about all of them, and the only person I found myself wanting it to be was you._ _We've come a long way since then, but it's a start right?_ _I used to think I'd never know what love actually felt like, but, when we're together everything just feels right. Yep, I love you._ _"_

 _H_ _inata tackled Naruto, initiating a long, passionate kiss. At first Naruto was surprised but he quickly_ _and happily_ _adjusted to his new situation._ _When Hinata broke it off, he was looking up at her._

" _I guess this view's a close second though." Hinata blushed, despite her previous actions, before getting off of him and returning to a normal sitting position._

" _Sorry, I don't know what came over me."_

" _Trust me, it's not a problem. But I think it's time to eat!" Naruto reached toward the almost forgotten picnic basket, and the projection ended._

"Hmmm… I think it's Hinata."

"No way, look at Naruto!"

"You're just used to seeing it on Hinata so it's hard to tell, but it's definitely her."

"Whatever Ino-pig, I think I can tell."

"Well clearly not forehead." Sakura and Ino were having a friendly discussion about whether Hinata or Naruto were blushing harder, but as in many of their conversations, they could not quite come to a common ground.

"If that were any sweeter I think I'd have a sugar rush" Tenten said, getting a few nods. Naruto and Hinata seemed to have decided to wait out the embarrassment, knowing that somebody else would go shortly.

Kiba scoffed. "I am so sick of all this love-dove, romantic bullshit. It's my turn to go!"

* * *

A/N: Here you go guys! The much anticipated (based off of Reviews) Hinata chapter. Now, there were a few things I thought about writing. As one reviewer suggested, there was the idea of a pregnant Hinata whom gets treated like a princess by the city; however, even if I would definitely change how it works out, that was the basic premise of her Into the Future chapter so I decided against it. Somebody else mentioned Naruto and Hinata's children, and while there was some comedic opportunity in having Naruto revealed as the father via Boruto in addition to the possibility of a touching family moment, I was not really sure what it would add to the story as a whole. So, in the end, I decided to pick Naruto's love confession as the chapter topic. Even though there is a lot of Naruto in the chapter, I feel that it is still Hinata-centric because it shows her character growth. Even though it's not how it happened in canon, I hope you see it as a way it could have happened!

As always, thank you for reading. Feel free to favorite, follow, review, or just continuing to read!


	6. Kiba

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Chapter 6 – Kiba

Kiba scoffed. "I am so sick of all this love-dove, romantic bullshit. It's my turn to go!"

Ino chuckled. "Yeah, at least we won't have to worry about that with you."

"T-that's not what I meant!" he growled back at the blonde, whom simply rolled her eyes at him. "I just didn't know when we signed up for this that all we were going to get to see was Shikamaru proposing or Naruto and Hinata making out."

A few of them were starting to wonder if Naruto and Hinata would ever return to their normal skin color because, somehow, they were still blushing. Naruto looked mercifully toward Kiba, hoping he would hurry up and get started. Luckily for him, the Inuzuka complied.

 _The projection showed an image of a spiky brown-haired nin with triangular tattoos on his face sitting atop a large white dog, running through the streets. The duo was easily recognizable as Kiba and Akamaru, who looked several years older than they did currently._

" _Hurry up pup or we're gonna be late!" The canine growled at his master, seemingly annoyed at having Kiba ride him while telling him to go faster._

" _Don't you get like that with me Akamaru! How is it my fault that I slept in!?" The dog looked toward his master and gave an annoyed bark._

" _Okay, okay, yeah, I can see how maybe that would be my bad. Sorry buddy." Kiba started rubbing Akamaru's head, and the dog seemed to speed up a bit more as if he had forgiven his master's transgressions. "Really though, eight in the morning? Who does that? Doesn't she know that I need my rest?"_

 _A few moments later, they arrived at a stand with two other customers. The old man behind the counter helped them to identify the stand as Ichiraku's. One of the customers had long, flowing hair and was wearing a sweatshirt with pants. The other had pink hair in a bun. It was not difficult to guess that they were Hinata and Sakura._

" _Hey Hinata, sorry I'm late. Not to be rude, but why is Sakura here anyway?" Kiba said as he took a seat beside his teammate and shook his head at Teuchi when asked if he would be eating._

" _Naruto has a way of making this ramen grow on you" the pinkette said as she shrugged her shoulders. "So, if I'm interrupting some sort of secret rendezvous, please let me know. I'd hate to be a bother."_

" _No, Kiba simply wanted to talk about something last night but I had an important clan meeting. I'm sorry about that, Kiba."_

" _It's no problem. It's not really that important. It's just, well, you see..." it was strange for everyone to see the normally loud, confident Inuzuka having a hard time speaking. Hinata just looked at him, with worry now in her expression, but it did not seem to help the struggling shinobi any._

" _It's okay Kiba. You can tell me anything. You're like a brother to me." Kiba sighed, seeming to take another breath to collect himself._

" _Thanks, Hinata. I guess it's weird though, because it has something to do with Naruto." Hinata raised an eyebrow toward him, and Sakura even seemed to turn her head a bit and was obviously not tuning him out any._

" _What about him?" Hinata asked, now in a worried voice. Kiba's face seemed to suddenly energize itself, as if understanding that he may have just implied something happened to the blonde._

" _N-no, it's nothing like that. I mean, I haven't seen him in a few days and he was fine last I saw. Healthy." She still seemed to be looking at him as if he were saying nothing but nonsense, but he seemed to steel himself. "It's just, well, everybody knows he's going to be the next Hokage. Hell, he probably would've been the Rokudaime if he were five years older at the time. Hero of the Leaf, Hero of the War, Toad Sage. I guess I'm just feeling a bit… lost, ya know?"_

"An existential crisis is worse than romance." Sai said, little inflection in his voice with a hint of a fake smile that was just enough to get under anyone's skin.

"Hey, you shut up! I'm trying to see where this goes!" Kiba was glaring at the pale teen as if he were two seconds away from attempting to drill a hole through his chest, and Akamaru seemed to support him by growling.

Sakura sighed, getting tired of having to dig her new teammate out of some situation he created. "Calm down Kiba, you know how he is. Best to ignore him."

"Hmph… yeah, sure."

" _Right, I understand. You always thought you wanted to be Hokage, but since the door's starting to close, you don't really know what to do anymore. Right?"_

" _Yeah, I guess that's… wait a second, what do you mean it's what I thought I wanted to be? It is what I wanted to be!"_

" _O-oh, ummm, I did not mean – you see" Hinata became suddenly nervous and was tapping her pointer fingers together while avoiding eye contact._

" _Let me handle this, Hinata." Sakura said, wiping her mouth clean with a napkin. "Kiba, you're a good friend and you're strong, but I know that you have to understand that Naruto wants it more than you do. And I know this is true because if Naruto thought he was not going to be the next Hokage then he'd be training his hardest to be the one after that. It's what he wants more than anything, no offense Hinata, and I'm not sure it would be possible to stop him before it happens. You just never had the same drive for the position, is what I'm sure Hinata meant."_

"This is bullshit! I do want to be Hokage, and there's no way that Naruto's gonna beat me for it!"

"Kiba, logically, if we have already seen Naruto to be the Hokage and your future self just pointed out that there was a Sixth before him that was not you, then you most likely will not be Hokage." Shino spoke, for the first time the entire night that anybody remembered.

The Inuzuka grumbled a bit to himself, lowering his head. He had been ready to defend his claim against anyone, but the fact that it was Shino took the wind out of his sails. Shino was definitely a weird guy, but they were still teammates that had gotten through a lot of dangerous missions and harsh training together.

" _Maybe, just maybe, and I'm definitely not saying you are, but maybe you are almost close to being right. Then, well, what do I do?"_

" _Kiba," Hinata said, seemingly ready to retake the conversation from Sakura, "I know you better than that. You've got friends, family. You're still the clan heir. You need to train just as hard as ever, maybe harder, for all of them. Besides, who else is going to protect Tamaki in case of an emergency?" She smiled slightly, seeming to know that she had said something right._

" _Yeah, you're right! If there's even a chance that somebody could try to hurt her then I have to be able to protect her! Hell, I'll get stronger than Naruto in no time if it means she's safe!" The Inuzuka was visibly uplifted, and it was obvious that he was filled with a new determination. The traces of doubt were gone, replaced with loyalty, self-confidence, and a touch of pride. The projection ended._

"Who the hell is Tamaki?" Kiba asked, looking around at everyone to see if they knew. He saw a bunch of heads shaking no, and was a bit frustrated that perhaps he had found his woman of the future but now had no idea who it was.

"Tamaki… Tamaki..." Naruto was saying the name slowly, as if trying to see how it sounded coming from his own lips. "That name sounds familiar from somewhere, I just know it."

Sakura's eyes lit up for a brief second, before dimming immediately. "You know, now that you mention it, it does. But I just can't think of it."

Kiba sighed. Everyone else had gotten some big revelation about their futures, and what did he get? Some random conversation about his dream being ruined with only a hint about some possible woman who may or may not be his girlfriend. Just as he was thinking this, he felt something on his arm and looked over to see Akamaru nuzzling his head against him. He pat the dog on the head, only for him to bark excitedly, and smiled.

"You know, I'm letting everyone else go in front of me, but not anymore! This time, it's mine!" Ino built her resolve, finally ready for her very own future viewing experience. As entertaining as it was to see others' futures, surely it would be better to see her own.

"Sheesh, why do you have to be so dramatic about it?"

"Shut up forehead; let's do this!"

* * *

A/N: Well, here it is, an early update of Chapter 6. I spent a lot of time going back and forth on what I wanted to do with this chapter. This was a strange one to work on for me because Kiba is, for some reason that I am not entirely sure of, probably my third favorite character in the series (definitely top 5). So, part of me just wants to do nothing more than give him a great chapter where all his desires are met, but instead, I chose to offer a viewing of him in a more introspective light while attempting to keep him in character. I wanted to give him a chance to really address the stardom of Naruto in relation to his own dream of becoming Hokage (which, if I'm being brutally honest, I feel was just some random thing Kishimoto put in to make the Chuunin Exam preliminary fight more competitive).

I know I mentioned in the last AN that I was feeling a little off about this chapter, but I would not post it if I was not confident in it. As always, feel free to follow, favorite, review, or continue to read. As always, thank you for reading.


	7. Ino

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Chapter 7 – Ino

"Shut up forehead; let's do this!" The pinkette rolled her eyes, but Ino was ready to get started and nobody was going to discourage her. She placed her hand on the orb and a projection appeared.

" _Here are the afternoon papers Ms. Ino." An unfamiliar blonde approached a very familiar platinum blonde girl, seemingly about only four years older than she was currently. She was sitting behind a desk, an exasperated look on her face._

" _Are you kidding me? I'm not even done with the morning work yet!"_

" _I'm sorry, Ms. Ino. It cannot be helped." The unknown person simply shrugged it off as he dropped the papers off at Ino's desk, who looked at them as if hoping they would spontaneously combust but the tactic failed._

" _Sheesh, if this is the work I have to do, how could anyone want to be Hokage?"_

"That… that's the clan head's desk." Ino said, her voice not giving away whether she was excited about the fact or not.

"Congratulations." Chouji said, unfortunately for him resulting in a glare from the woman.

"Chouji, if Ino's the clan head, then that means her father…" Shikamaru said, letting the sentence hang as opposed to ending it with the obvious. Ino was less likely to freak out on him if he did not explicitly state it. The Akimichi's mouth went wide as he understood how he had misspoken.

"Where's Daddy!" The Yamanaka said, worry becoming evident in her voice. Multiple people tried to comfort her, to tell her that he had most likely just stepped down, but she drowned them out in favor of continuing to view the projection.

 _Ino's head turned left and right, then glanced at the paperwork again, before she got up out of the chair. She approached the window, opened it, then looked out. Seeing that the coast was clear, she jumped out of the window before beginning to run. The Yamanaka raced through the village rooftops at an extremely quick speed, taking one last jump and landing very purposefully in the Konoha Cemetary, looking at a gravestone that read Inoichi Yamanaka. It was decorated with many flowers._

" _Hey Daddy, it's good to see you again. I hope you don't mind me taking up some of your time." The blonde said, voice quieter than it usually was with her head down simply staring at the name._

"D-daddy… why… how..." Ino said, very visibly on the verge of tears.

"Ino, don't worry about it. It hasn't really happened."

"Sakura's right, you can't let this get to you. You should just see how it goes." Ino nodded, barely able to contain the sudden burst of grief yet thankful for Sakura and Tenten's soothing words. She attempted to build her resolve, but it continued to crash everytime she saw the headstone. This was not going to be easy for her.

" _You know, I don't get how you did it Dad. Taking care of all the paperwork, getting to know all the clan members, running a flower shop, and being in charge of communications all while being on-call for interrogations? I can't remember the last time I was in the flower shop; it's mom's thing now, with a few younger clan kids helping out every now and then. There's just so much going on, sometimes it really starts to get to me. Well, I guess you know why I'm here now don't you?_ _I know you wouldn't want to hear me complaining like this. You'd always say 'It's okay baby, you'll get it soon. Just keep working hard' or something like that. I mean, I know that was mostly while working on jutsu but it applies here too doesn't it?" She smiled softly at the headstone, before standing in silence for a few moments._

" _Excuse me, Gorgeous?" Ino's eyes rolled with a sudden tinge of annoyance as she turned toward the intruder._

" _Oh hey Sai. What are you doing here?" The annoyance quickly faded, and it seemed like future Ino was a bit more accustomed to Sai's unusual greetings. She did not even threaten him with bodily harm for the lack of sincerity, to everyone's surprise._

" _I was contemplating painting a cemetery scene when you showed up. Seeing you here, I realized that my painting was missing a living human element to contrast with the death associated with graves. I finished the painting and was ready to leave when I remembered that Naruto told me it was quite rude to paint an individual without permission."_

 _Ino seemed to be quite confused by all the art terms, but her eyes lit up with understanding towards the end. "You did a painting of the cemetery, including me, and now you're asking for permission to paint me even though you already did?"_

" _Quite right. Good job keeping up." Sai offered a fake smile toward the blonde, who simply glared at him in response._

" _I want to see it first." Sai seemed to think about her demand for a second, a brief look of something akin to disgust crossing his face._

" _I guess if it includes you then you have a right to see it. Being nice is strange."_

"Looks like some things never change" Sakura said, preparing for a lifetime of bailing out the enigmatic artist from socially awkward situations.

"I'm surprised that she hasn't killed him, honestly." Shikamaru sighed. It really did not make much sense that Ino could stand such an insincere guy; it seemed so different than how she normally acted. If he called her gorgeous in some semi-sarcastic tone, he'd be good as dead. Some people had all the luck.

Ino, for her part, was still too taken aback by seeing her father's grave to be bothered by the pale artists false flattery. There would be plenty of time to make sure he would mean it in the future, it seemed.

 _Sai led Ino quickly across the graveyard to where he had set up a canvas. The blonde took a good look at the painting. It was a realistic depiction of the graveyard, except with exaggerated shadows that seemed to stretch onward in a somewhat eerie fashion and a more vibrant sun that contrasted with the shadows. In front of one of the headstones stood herself, head down, sad expression on her face but with a peaceful look in her eyes. She wondered how, exactly, he had painted her so quickly because she had not been in the area all too long._

" _It's beautiful, Sai."_

" _Is it? I thought that maybe I overdid it."_

" _Not at all. What made you decide to paint the cemetery anyway? Just felt like it?"_

" _I do not know. I was simply walking around when it caught my eye and I went from there."_

" _Does it have a title?"_

" _Naruto tells me that paintings are supposed to have names, but I am not very good at it. I was thinking of calling it 'The Meeting of Dark and Light'. Does that make sense?"_

 _Ino seemed to think deeply for a second, before shrugging. "Yeah, that's pretty good and all, but I was thinking it should be called 'In Remembrance'. What do you think?"_

" _Hmmm… I am not sure about that at all. Can we discuss this over lunch? I am quite hungry, I did not eat while I was working on the painting."_

" _Yeah, sure. Wait a second!" she said, in obvious surprise. "Are you asking me on a date?" Sai seemed to ponder the thought for a moment._

" _I suppose?" he said, clearly not entirely certain what she meant. Ino simply rolled her eyes._

" _How about you take the painting back to your place, wherever that is, then meet me at the Akimichi Barbecue restaurant in thirty minutes, alright?"_

" _That is adequate. Good bye." The artist quickly collected all of his belongings before vanishing from the spot in an instant. Ino simply smiled before walking back to her father's headstone._

" _Sorry that I couldn't talk longer, Daddy, but I have to hurry if I'm going to be ready. I'll see you soon, okay?"_

"Well, that was truly odd. Perhaps it was not really me?" Sai spoke, causing several people to roll their eyes at him.

Naruto smiled at the boy's reaction. "I guess I do manage to change you eventually, you crazy bastard."

Ino was having a bit of a hard time caring about what everyone else was talking about. She was still trying to digest everything she had just seen, from the grave of her father to apparently having a date with Sai. She tried to focus on the latter topic, with the former being a bit too painful. Sure, she had tried flirting with the guy a bit, and he was rather cute, but he still hardly seemed like a proper Sasuke replacement. She decided that maybe these projections were a little less than accurate but would let everyone else indulge anyway.

Sakura, seeing Ino having a tough time with the aftermath of the projections and not noticing anybody else who seemed to be jumping at the opportunity, decided to volunteer herself. "I'm going next!" she said, and nobody intervened, perhaps themselves being afraid that they would also see a dead loved one.

* * *

A/N: So, in this chapter, I decided to tackle how exactly Sai and Ino started to form a working relationship. This was pretty much the first and most prominent idea that I had for this chapter, and though there were good opportunities elsewhere in their lives, I felt like it would be most interesting to depict this particular type of scene. Also, I hope the description of the artwork is adequate enough to provide some semblance of what I picured; I've never been very good at art, but I did take one Art History class once. I also hope that Sai's character is done right; he was never my personal favorite and I never got too invested in him.

I've seen a few people ask about the timeline, so I guess I'll finally address that: All that matters is that the story takes place in Shippuden, which I'm sure you all knew from the presence of Sai, and before the war, which you knew from the presence of Neji. You readers are more than welcome to form personal opinions about when it's set based off of character behavior, because I have a general idea of when in my head, and I like the idea of letting you form your own estimations. Honestly, though, it's not all that important or I would have been sure to specify it early on.

Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or simply continue to read. As always, thank you so much for reading.


	8. Sakura

A Glimpse of Things to Be

Chapter 8 – Sakura

"I'm going next!" Sakura proclaimed, and nobody seemed willing to fight her over it. While a part of her was wanting to help get Ino's mind off of the apparent death of her father, she was mostly upset at herself. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that her and Sasuke would end up together, and yet here she was allowing Ino and even Hinata to go before her!

 _A pink-haired woman stood over a sink, her hair pulled back and down. It was obviously Sakura, though her appearance looked older than her current in some slight ways. She was doing dishes in the sink, humming some tune quietly._

" _Hey mom!" a voice called out from a nearby room. "I'm home." The voice was female, and did not sound all too excited. If anything, she sounded quite exasperated. Sakura sighed before turning off the faucet and drying off her hands. She turned and walked into the living room, where a visibly frustrated seven-year old girl was sitting on the couch._

 _The girl had dark hair and pitch-black eyes, with facial features that gave many of them the opinion that Sasuke was, in all likelihood, the father. Naruto in particular could see the similarities quite strongly, especially the way that they looked when they were pouting._

"So, maybe that whole Sasuke thing works out after all?" Temari said, voicing what everyone else was thinking. Everyone else was too afraid to get Sakura's hopes up too soon, knowing full well what it would be like if it turned out not to be true.

Sakura herself was having trouble processing this. Her daughter definitely looked like a good mix of both her and Sasuke, having Sasuke's hair and eye color with her body type. It seemed too good to be true. Had everything actually worked out? All the troubles gone, replaced with a happy and relatively normal home life, with a husband and daughter?

" _Hi sweetie. Bad day?" Sakura had the slightest bit of a smirk on her face, and it seemed incredibly likely that she had a bit of experience handling these types of situations._

" _I don't wanna talk about it." The girl puffed a bit, turning away. Sakura rolled her eyes before moving in to take a seat beside her daughter on the couch._

" _You know it'll be best if you just let it out. You can go back to being happy and I can go back to doing housework. So go ahead and tell me." The black-haired girl sighed._

" _Everyone else is always talking about their father. 'Oh, my dad taught me this' during training, or 'my dad and I have been training a lot; he says it's time I learn clan jutsu.' And here I am, having never met my father, just sitting there quietly while they talk about all the cool things they're doing at home."_

" _Is that what this is about? Oh come now Sarada, you know –-"_

" _I know what?" the girl interrupted her mother loudly. Sakura had a scowl on her face, but seemed willing to let her continue. "That my dad loves me? That he's out there, somewhere, thinking about me? That he cares about either of us? No, Mom, I don't know ANY of that. All I know is that YOU tell me that, not him! If he cares so much, where is he?" She was quite visibly angry now, past the point of frustration. Her face was lit up brightly, and to the viewers, it was this side that made it so obvious it was truly Sakura's daughter._

" _Now look young lady, I know you're upset, but I will not be talked to like that in this household." Sakura said sternly, with a slightly raised voice._ _It seemed she was intent on disciplining the child before things got out of hand._ _Her voice lowered as she continued. "Your father has important business to attend to, keeping the village safe so that kids like you and your friends don't have to worry about the next evil mastermind starting another war or trying to destroy the village._ _Besides, you met him once; you just do not remember since it was your third birthday._ _"_

" _But why can't he visit?" the girl implored, looking deep into her mother's eyes and obviously desperate for an answer._

" _I don't know. That's just not him." she said, wrapping an arm around her clearly disappointed daughter. "I never really thought he'd be the type of man who'd stay in the village, only going out on short-term missions. I always knew, at least in my heart, that we would never have that type of life. But, I love him, and I was willing to accept that. Part of me wishes we did have that life; that I would wake up and he would be here, that he could help you train and see how strong you're going to be. But that's not the life he wants. It's not right to ask him to change when I knew going into it that he wouldn't. So, if you're going to get mad at anyone, it should be me."_

"You make a pretty good mother, Sakura." Ino said, seemingly not jabbing at Sakura in any way. Sakura was, of course, intensely absorbed into the scene taking place in front of her and was already completely taken aback by the idea of having a child, especially since all of the context clues hinted to the father being Sasuke. In a way it was nice though she was somewhat disappointed that it seemed like some things would never change and she'd rarely see him.

"Ugh, daughters seem like a lot of work. Let's have a son, Shikamaru!"

The Nara could feel the headache approaching as if it traveled to the past as a result of them looking into the future. "First of all, that's not something we can really control." He said it calmly, though everyone could see the blush tinting his cheeks. "Secondly, can we please not talk about this as if it's normal? It's not."

"Oh, you're so insufferable."

" _Now tell me, and this time I want the truth," Sakura continued, "this has something to do with Boruto doesn't it?"_

" _W-what? Of course not, Mom!"_

" _Now now, nobody else gets to you like him. You two are pretty close, after all." Sakura said, in such a way that even a seven-year old could pick up what she was implying._

" _You're so weird!" the girl said defensively, not enjoying her mother implying that she liked Boruto. Well, of course she liked him, but they were friends; she knew what her mother meant! "He was just talking about some things and I guess, maybe, he mentioned Naruto-ojisan and I got a little bit… jealous."_

The meaning was not lost on anyone in the room that Naruto, being the uncle of Sarada, and resulting in jealousy about fathers, meant that Boruto was the name of his son. Naruto, at this point, had been enjoying his reprieve after the embarrassing scene with Hinata until the malevolent future-telling device saw fit to mention him again. Hinata, meanwhile, was thinking that it was quite a nice name and that she did not mind it. There was, perhaps, a small bit of red on her cheeks at the thought of it being her son due to the nature of what that implied, but considering what she had already seen from the device today it was not enough to make her too distressed.

" _Well, I know your father's not here right now, but I know what he'd say. 'Sarada, jealousy is unbecoming of an Uchiha" Sakura said, as if to remove whatever doubt there could have possibly been about the identity of the father. "Especially if it has anything to do with that idiot Naruto. And don't call him Ojisan.' But that last part would be said in the way only your father could do, where he sounds so serious but you can tell he doesn't mean it." There was a smile on Sakura's face as she gave her daughter a final hug. "Now, if you do not mind, I need to finish all this housework! How two people living in such a large house make such a mess I will never know..." The scene faded._

Sakura couldn't think of anything to say; from what she had seen, she seemed so strong, confident, and mature at a point that did not really seem that far into the future. She was obviously a good bit older but it's not like she was pushing middle-aged or anything. It made her feel like a child to see how she would turn out.

"That was touching. Who's next?" Kiba said, bored by the scene and really finding the entire experience so far to be much more boring than expected. Where was all the action?

"You are so rude!" Tenten said, rolling her eyes at the behavior of the Inuzuka.

"I think it's my turn." Chouji said, finishing a bag of chips. He had hesitated in stepping forward for a while now, mostly because he could not really imagine anything that he wanted to see in the future whereas everyone else seemed to have so much hope for it. Still, he decided that he was not going to delay it anymore and to get it out of the way.

* * *

A/N: Yes, this story has been updated. I know it's been quite some time, but let me explain: I was somewhat disappointed that the story had taken a turn away from what it was supposed to be originally and I felt somewhat exasperated by that thought. However, any time I read it, I always found that I enjoyed reading it quite a bit and wanted to continue working on it. Then, with two other major stories going on, I'd just keep putting it to the side. Now I feel like the time has come to resume writing this.

Please note that I have changed my original description; all scenes in this story should be "Scenes consisting either of canon possibilities or plausible alternatives to canon happenings". This represents no major shift in the kinds of chapters I write. If you're a long-term reader, you will find no significant changes in the way that I write the chapters. If you're a new reader, welcome.

As always, thank you for reading! Please feel free to favorite, follow, review, or simply continue onward!


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